Italian Couple Takes Lead

TURIN, Italy — It was so overwhelming, Italians Barbara Fusar Poli and Maurizio Margaglio couldn't help but cry when they saw the marks from the judges.

The pair came out of retirement to compete in Friday night's Olympic compulsory dance and it was well worth it. The Italians finished first in the compulsory, which kicks off the three-day competition, after an inspired performance to the Ravensburger waltz.

The 2002 bronze medal finalists received full support from the pro-Italian audience. The crowd chanted, "Italia! Italia" repeatedly when the pair's routine was complete.

"I wanted to scream with them," Margaglio said.

The Russian duo of Tatiana Navka and Roman Kostomarov, the world and European champions, placed second. They trail the Italians by just .58.

Bulgarians Albena Denkova and Maxim Staviski were third.

The U.S., however, did not fare so well in the compulsory. America's top finisher was Tanith Belbin and Benjamin Agosto, who placed sixth.

Belbin and Agosto are considered the U.S.'s best chance to medal. They finished second in the 2005 world championships. They are just 1.42 points out of first place, but will have to fight through a cluster of other teams that also are within striking distance.

"I think we're still close enough to challenge for a podium spot," Belbin said.

Americans Melissa Gregory and Denis Petukhov were among the top-3 briefly, but fell to 15th. Jamie Silverstein and Ryan O' Meara finished 18th.

`I'M EMILY, NOT SARAH'

TURIN, Italy They look alike, they talk alike, and each had her hair restyled and enhanced with face-framing highlights before competing at the Olympics.

There are enough similarities between 2002 figure skating gold medalist Sarah Hughes and her 17-year-old sister Emily that it wasn't surprising when a reporter addressed Emily as "Sarah" during a news conference that marked Emily's arrival to replace the injured Michelle Kwan.

"We have a good relationship," Emily Hughes said of her sister, after reminding the assembled journalists that she's not Sarah.

"She's so supportive of my skating, as I was of hers. But we're not competitive with each other. We're both competitive -- that's why we're in figure skating."

She acknowledged she's been caught up in a whirlwind since she learned Kwan had withdrawn and that she'd spend her winter break from Great Neck North High at the Olympics. Hughes got the news Sunday and arrived in Turin late Thursday.

- Helene Elliott Tribune Olympic Bureau

PLUSHENKO IN AUTO ACCIDENT

TURIN, Italy A car taking Evgeni Plushenko to the Milan airport was involved in an accident in dense fog early Friday morning, hours after the Russian won the gold medal in Olympic men's figure skating.

No one was hurt in the chain-reaction collision, said Ari Zakarian, Plushenko's agent. Plushenko was flying home to St. Petersburg.

Jemele Hill and Helene Elliott are sportswriters for the Orlando Sentinel and the Los Angeles Times (Tribune Co. newspapers), respectively. The Associated Press was used to supplement this report.